The senior thesis writer must complete the reading list suggested by his advisor and approved by the Jackson Scholars Director.

Obtain and read The Myth of the Robber Barons: A New Look at the Rise of Big Business in America by Burton W. Folsom, Jr. (ISBN: 0963020315). A quick read (135 pages of text) and a great insight into historical research and analysis.

Answer one of the following questions in 3 to 5 handwritten pages citing specific examples and evidence from this book:

1) Evaluate the extent to which technology changed life in the United States from 1800-1920.

2) Evaluate the extent to which the large companies impacted American Society from 1840-1920.

Note: Do not use block quotes, explain in your own words. Referencing the book is good but don’t just quote it- analyze and explain it. See AP Rubric for additional style and content guidelines- Long Essay Question Rubric.

Summer Assignment: read 1917 by Warren Carroll.  During the first week of school, you will take an essay-test, asking you to demonstrate a knowledge of the book’s major themes, by answering with sufficient detail (the prompt will not be communicated ahead of time). This assignment will count as a test grade for the first quarter.

You will need to purchase the book through Sophia Institute Press:

https://sophiainstitute.com/product/1917/

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me.

Students must read Gideon’s Trumpet by Anthony Lewis and be prepared for a written exercise based on the same during the first class of the year.

Check back here June 15th for a Summer Assignment

Sellier Pre-Geometry-Summer Assignment – 2023-and-Beyond.pdf

AP Calc AB SummerAssignment

Click here to download the Pre-Calculus summer assignment.

The only Summer assignment is to acquire a TI-84 Graphing calculator (can be the *Plus/Silver Edition/CE).

Do practice tests and practice Calculus AB problem sets from your Princeton review prep book all summer long. Stay loose and nimble with the material: there will be an exam on the first day of classes in September (a mini mock AP Calculus AB exam) to see how much you retained over the Summer. It will count as your first exam grade of the year.

MATH 445-446 Pre-Calculus and the Derivative

Mr. Michael Moynihan

Summer assignment

Spend time reading through chapter P (stands for “prerequisites”) in your text, Precalculus 4^th edition by Larson and Hostetler (ISBN 0669417416). These pages are available here: 1300_001 (1). This material should mostly be a review of what you have already covered in previous math courses. As you go through this material, do at least 150 problems from the text. While it is up to you what problems you choose, you will benefit most from this assignment if you choose problems that reinforce areas that need improvement. In other words, if you choose easy problems to simply complete the assignment, you will not benefit as much. You should choose problems that help solidify your foundation.

During the first part of the year we will cover this material quickly. If you do this assignment well, you will find the first part of the course easier. If you come to class without a strong foundation in the material this summer assignment covers, the beginning of the year will be difficult.

I will collect your summer assignment on the first day of school and grade it based on completion and effort shown (students who show their work and choose diverse problems will receive higher marks).

MATH 447-448 Calculus

Mr. Michael Moynihan

Summer assignment

Spend time reading through chapter P (stands for “prerequisites”) in your text, Precalculus 4^th edition by Larson and Hostetler (ISBN 0669417416). These pages are available here: 1300_001 (1). This material should mostly be a review of what you have already covered in previous math courses. As you go through this material, do at least 150 problems from the text. While it is up to you what problems you choose, you will benefit most from this assignment if you choose problems that reinforce areas that need improvement. In other words, if you choose easy problems to simply complete the assignment, you will not benefit as much. You should choose problems that help solidify your foundation.

During the first part of the year we will cover this material quickly. If you do this assignment well, you will find the first part of the course easier. If you come to class without a strong foundation in the material this summer assignment covers, the beginning of the year will be difficult.

I will collect your summer assignment on the first day of school and grade it based on completion and effort shown (students who show their work and choose diverse problems will receive higher marks).

Algebra I Summer Assignment

Print and complete all of units 3 and 4 of the Algebra I book. You must have all the problems neatly worked out in the space provided.

In addition, there will be at least one test on this material in the first week or two of school.

If you need more practice materials or have questions please reach out to me at dmaxham@heights.edu.

Please do this assignment at the end of the summer, not the beginning, so it is fresh in your mind when we start school.

The assignment can be found in the following documents: Young & Freedman Ch. 2 text and Ch. 2 Problems and Answers (click on the links to open). Be sure to check the answers at the back.

• Read section 2.1; do problems 1, 3 and 5
• Read section 2.2; do problems 9 and 11
• Read section 2.3; do problems 15 and 19
• Read section 2.4; do problems 21, 23, 29, 31, 33 and 35
• Read section 2.5; do problems 39, 43, 45, 47, 49 and 93

Please do this assignment at the end of the summer, not the beginning, so it is fresh in your mind when we start school.

Summer Assignment: Handout (click on link)

1. pp. 47-48 Sample Exercise (SE) 2.4 and Practice Exercise (PE): Calculating the Atomic Weight of an Element from Isotopic Abundances
2. p. 48 A Closer Look: The Mass Spectrometer
3. p. 83 SE 3.1 and PE (Interpreting and Balancing Chemical Equations)
4. p. 90 Strategies in Chemistry: Problem Solving
5. pp. 95-96 SE 3.12 and PE (Calculating the Number of Molecules and Atoms from Mass)
6. p. 97 SE 3.13 and PE (Calculating an Empirical Formula)
7. p. 98 SE 3.14 and PE (Determining a Molecular Formula)
8. pp. 98-100 “Combustion Analysis,” including SE 3.15 and PE
9. pp. 102-04 SE 3.16-17 and PEs (Calculating Amounts of Reactants and Products) 
10. pp. 106-07 SE 3.18-19 and PEs (Calculating Amount of Product from a Limiting Reactant)
11. pp. 108-09 SE 3.20 and PE (Calculating the Theoretical and Percent Yield for a Reaction)

No AP Biology summer assignment. However, if you feel you wanted to do something to prepare I would suggest you get a 9th grade biology text (from me), and I would suggest some chapters to read over the summer. This would be especially good if you have not taken high school biology yet.  Some of these chapters are Cellular Structure and Function,  Cellular Energy,  Cellular Reproduction,  Chemistry in Biology, and Sexual Reproduction and Genetics. But there is no required assignment and nothing will be collected at the start of the school year.

The Elementary Spanish summer assignment involves roughly 8 hours of work to be completed on an online learning platform.

Students are strongly recommended to complete this work over the summer, as it will provide them with a strong foundation to be successful in the class, and all the modules will later be assigned as required assignments in the early weeks of the year. Completing the assignments during the summer will significantly lighten the load of homework during the first weeks of the year.

Students joining Elementary Spanish should send their preferred email to Mr. Cheely (mcheely@heights.edu) and he will add them to the online learning platform.

Please reach out to Mr. Cheely with any questions.

The summer assignment consists of completion of the review sections of the CURSO PRIMERO book. The assignment can be downloaded here:

SPII-Summer-2025-Assignment

This assignment is due on the first day of class.  A vocabulary quiz will be held on the third day of class.

Advanced Spanish Summer Assignment

You are expected to know all the conjugations for the regular verbs Hablar, Comer, and Vivir(with the exception of the preterit perfect indicative, the future subjunctive, and the future perfect subjunctive). There will be a test on the first day of school. Attached you will find a blank copy for Hablar, so you know exactly what you are expected to fill in on the test. Spelling and accents must be perfect in order to receive a perfect score.

Hablar test

The conjugations to hablar, comer, and vivir can be found in many places, including:

Verb Conjugations

Questions can be directed to Sr. Acevedo at aacevedo@heights.edu

AP Spanish Summer Assignment

You are expected to know all the conjugations for the regular verbs Hablar, Comer, and Vivir(with the exception of the preterit perfect indicative, the future subjunctive, and the future perfect subjunctive). There will be a test on the first day of school. Attached you will find a blank copy for Hablar, so you know exactly what you are expected to fill in on the test. Spelling and accents must be perfect in order to receive a perfect score.

Hablar test

The conjugations to hablar, comer, and vivir can be found in many places, including:

Click Here for Conjugations

Questions can be directed to Sr. Sushinsky at dsushinsky@heights.edu